December 15, 2009

update! i have not been offed by the mob!

hey! hi, you guys! look at me, still with functioning fingers that can type and everything, despite the fact that i.. you know... haven't. in weeks. i'm sure you were worried about me over here, with my clearly broken fingers, but i'm pleased to report that i've had minimal run-ins with the mob over the past month and thus all fingers remain intact.

the other day i was thinking "well, you know, it's not like i've done anything INTERESTING lately anyway, so i had nothing to blog about." and then i remembered i went to nyc for a weekend. and made gingerbread with guinness in it. and tried cask ale at birch & barley in logan circle with marie and her boyfriend. so.. um, yeah. i've totally been doing things. i've just been too lazy to WRITE anything about them.

ps: new york? holy awesome cows, batman. we ate at nobu, which.. just.. oh my god. i have had a LOT of excellent meals in my day, and this one ranks in the top five. blackened cod marinated in sweet miso for three days, and topped with fois gras? a culinary experience like i've never had before and one that i wish i could have every single day. for the rest of my life. we got the mid-range tasting menu, and holy shit was it worth every penny. one of my criteria for a restaurant ranking as "extraordinary" as opposed to just "really darn good" is that at a lot of really darn good restaurants, you'll have an absolutely AMAZING dish as part of the meal, a couple of really awesome courses, and maybe a few pretty good bits to round it out. an extraordinary restaurant is one where every single course of the night - and we had about 8, at nobu - was absolutely amazing.

oh! also! we got our own reserved table at a trendy champagne lounge, because that's how we roll. just pretend you believe that's how i normally roll, ok? in exchange, i'll stop using "roll" in reference to myself for the rest of my life.

ALSO! we went to justin timberlake's bar. he was not there. but we played never have i ever with pitchers of beer, so i think it all evens out.

so! that was new york, and it was fun. and if you live in or near nyc and have not been to nobu, GO GO GO GO RIGHTNOW.

finally, i need your help folks. i randomly decided to throw a party at the last minute this coming sunday (cookie party! everyone brings cookies, i make beverages, and then we all eat cookies. that people brought. nice, right? slash cheesy? shut up. it's nice.)

ANYWAY. i have *some* christmas/holiday music on my ipod, but a bunch of it is sort of way-too-mellow orchestral/chorale-y stuff. i need suggestions for fun, party, holiday music. any good christmas albums or particular songs that i should load up on the ol' playlist?

Um. I suck at Christmas music, particularly of the festive variety (my Christmas music preferences tend toward Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Andrea Bocelli, whose new Christmas album is awesome). The Barenaked Ladies duet with Sarah McLachlan of God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman is good, and slightly more upbeat. But... um, yeah, that's all I got. Good luck!

I'd say go for the classic Mariah Carey Christmas album (the one with "All I Want for Christmas" on it). I mean, if you're going to embrace the cheesiness of a cookie party (which I love the idea of, by the way), might as well break out Mariah Carey.

Get yourself to Pandora.com and set up a Christmas station, then download your favorites as they play (or at least make notes of which ones you really like).Very sexy shirt (I'm envious) and I'm REALLY envious of your NYC weekend. That and the champagne bar and the Guinness Gingerbread is making me miss being single.... something I didn't think I'd ever miss.

Bryan Adams: Run Run Rudolph from the original "Very Special Christmas" CD (also has The Boss singing Little Drummer Boy, and lots of other good songs) I think the CD came out in the late 80's or maybe 1990, but it's still awesome.

If you can find "Navidad: A Holiday Celebration" by Sugo Music get it! It's instrumental Christmas music with a Latin flare and it's fantastic. Diana Krall's holiday album is great also. And, of course, there's Vince Guaraldi (Charlie Brown Christmas)and there is a compliation called "Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas" that is great, it has a lot of upbeat standards.

Dollface, you look positively delicious in these photos! Did you do something wonderful to your hair? And that blue shirt is fantabulous. As for music, I dig the Transiberian Orchestra for a less Bing Crosby effect. Unless you're going for that, which is totally cool too :)

There's a lot of free xmas music floating around on the itunes store and Amazon's mp3 website:http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b/ref=topnav_storetab_dmusic?ie=UTF8&node=163856011 (look for the sidebar that has "25 days of three" - some of the songs are more traditional, some are more modern)

If you go to the iTunes store, they also have a free xmas sampler, again, some with traditional songs some with more modern.